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Nepal Fast-Tracks Law for Missing Flood Victims
7 Oct
Summary
- Nepal amending laws to register 5,285 missing flood victims as deceased.
- Move aims to grant families access to relief and compensation.
- Search operations concluded, focus shifts to rehabilitation.
Nepal is taking swift action to address the legal status of 5,285 people missing following the devastating floods on August 26. Officials announced that amendments to the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act and the National Identity Card and Registration Act are being prepared. This legal adjustment is intended to facilitate the official death registration for those unaccounted for.
The primary goal of this legislative amendment is to ensure that the families of the missing can access essential relief, compensation, and other legal entitlements. The government views this as a critical step following the conclusion of the 40-day search and rescue operation. While emergency rescue efforts have ceased, essential search activities, including the recovery of human remains, will continue during rehabilitation work.
The flash floods, originating near the Nepal-Tibet border, caused widespread destruction across northern and central Nepal, sweeping away infrastructure. Existing legal provisions, which generally presume a person missing for 12 years as dead, have proven insufficient for immediate disaster situations. Officials are expediting the process, possibly through an ordinance, to overcome the current legal challenges and provide support to affected families.
